Mayar said villagers collected the Taliban dead. There was no immediate comment from the Taliban.

In previous reports the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction called the casualty rate among Afghan National Security Forces "shockingly high."

Meanwhile in southern Zabul province, the deputy provincial police chief Ghulam Farahi said Sunday that two civilians were killed a day earlier in Shahjoy District, when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device. Another three people were wounded, he said.